Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they received the draft code of practice required under the Elections Act 2022 from the Electoral Commission.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities received the Electoral Commission's draft code of practice for third-party campaigners on controlled expenditure, required by the Elections Act 2022, on the 19 of April 2023. In line with Section 29 of the Act, the Secretary of State is currently considering the draft code. Once approved, the code will be laid before Parliament, with or without modifications. If the draft code incorporates any such modifications, the Secretary of State will lay before Parliament a statement setting out the Secretary of State's reasons for making them.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they reconcile their obligations under the WHO and NHS Employers codes of practice, which discourage recruitment of doctors from countries with critical shortages of health workers, with reports that 54 per cent of newly-trained doctors in 2022 were recruited from such countries.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
International recruitment of doctors is guided by the Code of Practice for International Recruitment, which guarantees the most stringent ethical standards when recruiting health and social care staff from overseas. The code aligns with latest advice from the World Health Organization, ensuring that an individual's right to migrate is upheld. As such, individuals from these countries are able to apply for vacancies independently in the United Kingdom, and, if they do, they must be treated fairly and not be discriminated against based on their nationality.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the accuracy of the Professional and Linguistics Assessment Board examination (PLAB) as a test of competence for International Medical Graduates, given the conclusion of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published on 17 April 2014 that the pass mark of PLAB would need to be increased by 30 per cent to reach equivalence with UK graduates.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
No specific assessment has been made. The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of all medical doctors practising in the United Kingdom. It sets and enforces the standards to which all doctors must adhere. The GMC is responsible for operational matters, including those relating to Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board tests, which it revised in 2016 following a review.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they give to doctor-patient ratios which are significantly below those in UK when recruiting international medical graduates from low-income countries outside the EU and EEA.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
International recruitment of medical graduates is guided by the ‘Code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel in England’, available in an online-only format. The code aligns with the latest advice from the World Health Organisation, preventing active recruitment from countries with the most pressing health and social care workforce challenges, including those with low healthcare worker density.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many medical school places were available in England in each of the last 10 years; and how many applications were made on average per place.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The following table shows the number of entrants to undergraduate medicine courses in England from 2012 to 2022.
Academic year | Entrants |
2012 | 6,190 |
2013 | 5,980 |
2014 | 6,000 |
2015 | 5,880 |
2016 | 5,930 |
2017 | 6,095 |
2018 | 6,800 |
2019 | 7,565 |
2020 | 8,405 |
2021 | 8,485 |
2022 | 7,630 |
Source: Office for Students Medical and Dental Students Survey (2012-2022)
Note: 2022 entrants are based on initial figures and are likely to change.
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service records the number of unique applicants and acceptances to undergraduate medical courses. Based upon this data, there has been an average of 3.2 applicants for each accepted place from 2011 to 2021.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many doctors from overseas first registered in England in each of the last 10 years; and what percentage of those doctors came from EU or EEA countries.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department does not hold data on the number of doctors from overseas who first registered in England in each of the last 10 years or what percentage of those doctors came from EU or EEA countries. The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of all medical doctors practising in the UK, and all doctors must register with them and hold a licence to practise to work in the UK. The GMC maintains data on medical practitioners registered with them.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what (1) number, and (2) percentage, of properties were sold in each of the Council Tax bands in (a) 2004, and (b) the latest year for which figures are available.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department does not hold information on the number of domestic properties sold by council tax band.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to revise the inspection criteria for Citizenship Education with Ofsted; and what plans they have to publish (1) any correspondence, or (2) the minutes of meetings, with Ofsted, including of any meeting that took place on 15 March.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
I refer the noble Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts to the answer I gave on 25 April 2022 to question HL7809.
The government has now responded to the recommendations outlined within ‘The Ties that Bind: Citizenship and Civic Engagement in the 21st Century Follow-up report’, including the recommendations relating to the inspection of citizenship education.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to revise the inspection criteria for citizenship education with Ofsted; and what plans they have to publish (1) any correspondence, or (2) minutes of meetings (including the meeting on 15 March,) with Ofsted.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Ofsted, as a separate government department and independent inspectorate, is responsible for the criteria in its inspection framework and handbooks.
On 21 February, Ofsted wrote to the Chair of the House of Lords Liaison Committee, Lord Gardiner of Kimble, setting out its inspection approach regarding citizenship education. The letter is available at: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/9100/documents/159384/default/.
The department has subsequently discussed this matter with Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. The Chief Inspector has confirmed that citizenship education forms a significant, but proportionate, part of school inspections. There are no plans to publish correspondence or minutes relating to discussions on this matter. The government will respond in due course to ‘The Ties that Bind: Citizenship and Civic Engagement in the 21st Century Follow-up report’, which includes recommendations relating to the inspection of citizenship education.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the proposed (1) name, (2) terms of reference, (3) membership, and (4) frequency of meetings, of the Cabinet Committee to be set up under the plans in the Levelling Up White Paper.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The terms of reference for the Domestic and Economic (Levelling Up) Cabinet Committee are: ‘To set direction for place-based strategies and embed levelling up within government policy and delivery’. The membership of the Committee comprises: the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities; the Chief Secretary to the Treasury; and, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Levelling Up, The Union and Constitution. Other Ministers are invited according to the agenda.
It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its Committees, and how often they meet, is not normally shared publicly.